A Georgia man who had been living on Warrenton Road was killed Friday afternoon when he came in contact with an electrical line, knocking out power to about 130 Entergy customers on Warrenton Road.

Vicksburg Police officer Torin Nailor, the patrol shift watch commander on duty, said the body of Carl Neal Murphy, 52, was discovered by Vicksburg firefighters near a utility pole after they extinguished a woods fire that occurred when Murphy came in contact with the line.

He was declared dead at the scene by Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey, who put the cause of death as electrocution. An autopsy has been ordered.

The death and the cause of the fire remain under investigation. Fire department Capt. Daryl Carson said the fire burned about 30 yards of grass.

“He was a very loving person,” his daughter Joni Hodges, who lives in Georgia, said. “He was great with kids, and he could do pretty much anything with his hands. He was very gentle. He did just a little bit of everything.”

Red Hambright, who lives on Wigwam Road off Warrenton Road, said his wife saw the fire, which was off Warrenton Road.

He said Murphy was homeless when he came to Vicksburg about a year ago, and lived in a house near the corner of Warrenton and Wigwam roads that he was fixing.

“He was a nice person; he would stop and help you any way he could,” Hambright said. “He had dinner at our house just the other night.”